15 Months

Dear Henry,

You've made it to 15 months!  We thought we would continue our letters to you, just not every month like we did during your first year.  There have been so many changes the past three months, we hope we don't leave any of these milestones out!  And it's official:  you are a TODDLER.  No more calling you our little baby... you're our little man!

- Walking.  Walking, walking, walking.  All around the house, all day long.  Outside, in stores, at Grammy's house.  You never stop walking no matter where we are.  You strung together your first steps on December 14th and there's been no looking back.  There was a two week period where you wanted nothing to do with any toys or games of yours, you just wanted to explore on two feet.  Mommy and I love how you always want to walk... it's like you're a little person.  Seeing you walk into the kitchen looking for us (and a snack) puts a smile on our faces every time.  Playing hide-and-seek, tag and simply walking up and down the block is the highlight of our days.

- Talking.  You spend all day talking predominantly in your own little language, but you've added several words to your arsenal and know the proper association/object to go along with them.  Car, kiss, teeth, bus, ball, garage (or "gra," as you would say), diaper and snack.  You also follow directions, key off of what we say when we give you simple commands and you know we mean business when we're telling you "NO" (and you do NOT like it when we do).

- Playing.  You still love - LOVE! - reading.  It is your favorite pastime and you certainly have your favorite books.  You know what comes next in several of them (most notably, the pages with lions and monkeys because you can make their noises) and you always turn the page for mommy and daddy.  You've also fallen in love with your boxes of flash cards and enjoy looking at them every morning.  We also have adapted to having little cars all around the house... but daddy doesn't mind, he thinks it is cool you're playing with classic Camaros and Ferraris.  You also love playing with your bouncy balls, which we have to fish out from under the couch most days.  You've become a dancin machine.  You love for us to put on music and we have dance parties in the living room.  So far your favorite musician is Zach Brown Band.  Last, you've taken a liking to your kitchen set... you don't use it for "cooking" just yet, but taking everything out of the little refrigerator is a favorite activity of yours.

- Eating.  I'm going to keep this short and sweet:  you eat whatever - and I mean WHATEVER - we put in front of you.  Most nights you have the same dinner mommy and daddy, but there are some nights when you'd rather have one of your toddler meals.  Then there are the nights when you're not interested in food at all and just want to run around the house and play... but those are few and far between.  The only drawback of your healthy appetite is that you know where your snack cupboard is and you'll be sure to lead us there and bark at us until we give our little Snack Monster a treat.  But I have to say, you're a VERY healthy eater for a little boy... lots of veggies and fruits, your grammy's are very happy about that.

- Mommy and I recently cut out the last piece of babyhood you had left:  the nighttime bottle.  The first night or two were a little iffy, but overall it was worse for mommy than it was for you.  Now you don't miss them at all.

- Sleeping.  You still sleep like a rock.  I'm jealous.

SO MUCH has happened in the last three months, Henry.  Mommy and I feel like more has happened since you turned one than in your entire first year put together!  You are at such a fun stage in life, always smiling, giggling and playing with us.  And while you are a lot easier in many ways, there are certainly new challenges associated with having a toddler around the house.  But we wouldn't have it any other way.

We love you always,
Daddy and Mommy